Echoes of the Past - Echoes in Time Sidestory #2
by AllWhacked
Summary: The Tenchi in my Ranma 1/2 based, Echoes in Time series has entered the Wheel of Time universe via the cliche interdimensional portal. Now stuff happens, so read and find out.


An Echoes in Time Side Story Series  
  
Echoes of the Past - Story #2 - Prologue  
  
Version 1.0 (9/28/01)  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
The characters of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko  
Takakashi. The characters of Hokuto no Ken belong  
to Buronson and Tetsuo Hara. The characters of  
Ninja Scroll belong to Manga. The characters of  
Highlander belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. The  
characters of Wheel of Time belong to Robert  
Jordan and TOR Publishing. All other characters  
to appear are owned by their respective owners.  
So in other words, I DO NOT own shit, so please  
don't sue me because I have Zero money. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Warning!!! ---  
  
Anyway this is an Alterverse/Continuation fanfic  
with severe x-over tendencies.  
  
--- Note to Reader ---  
  
The events in this fic begin sometime before  
Chapter 6 and 7 of Echoes in Time, but will later  
branch back into the main story line.  
  
"..." = spoken dialogue  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Prologue ---  
  
  
'Ohman!Ohman!Ohman!' thought a teenage boy as he  
ran for his life; behind him chased a horde of  
snarling goat-like creatures, the likes of which  
he had never seen before. As he ran for dear  
life, with fear as his only motivator, Tenchi  
Masaki knew right then and there that if he  
survived this and was somehow able to get back  
home, he would never ever set foot back into  
Washuu's lab.  
  
'Oh shit!' he cursed as he rammed his head on a  
low-lying branch. The moonlight was dim and the  
forest canopy let in only a little light, but with  
his--better than average--night vision, Tenchi  
cursed himself for not seeing it sooner. As he  
gathered himself off the ground, he brought a hand  
up to his throbbing forehead. He felt a warm  
wetness on his fingers and a slight stinging  
sensation where he touched it.  
  
"Gee, that was smart," he muttered. He would have  
said something more like "ow!" or "god damn it,"  
but from his mother he learned never to curse and  
from his grandfather he learned that he should  
never let pain bother him, instead he should  
embrace it.  
  
'Embrace this you fucking tree,' he thought as he  
kicked at the offending foliage. The tree groaned  
and then toppled down; Tenchi then heard the  
painful moan of one of the goat-like creatures,  
which soon brought him back to full awareness.  
Shaking his head he got back up again; his head  
still hurt, but he paid it no mind--after all any  
student of Ranma Saotome was supposed to be made  
of sterner stuff.  
  
With the sound of his pursuers now getting closer,  
Tenchi urged himself to go on and to run. 'Run  
damn you!' His legs that were aching from earlier  
exertion sprang to life while his burning lungs  
continued to take in much needed oxygen. At that  
moment, Tenchi was ever thankful for his father  
and grandfather's arduous training regime.  
  
'Thanks Gramps,' he thought as he spotted a  
possible escape route. Above him shone the bright  
moonlight; it was an opening in the canopy that  
let in just enough light for him to see the tree  
branches ahead. With a mighty leap, he was nearly  
thirty feet up above the forest floor. Below him  
he saw the confused looks of pursuers as they soon  
passed over his previous position.  
  
Some of the goat men began to sniff the air,  
however a strong wind was in the air that helped  
spread Tenchi's scent away from him. Ever  
thankful for Mother Nature, Tenchi sat lifeless as  
he watched his pursuers quickly give up interest  
and return back the ways they came.  
  
After a few minutes, Tenchi let out a long sigh.  
'What the hell were those things?' his mind  
demanded. He had never seen something so  
grotesque; creatures that were bi-pedal and human-  
like yet looked as if parts of other animals had  
been sewn in where mouth or foot should have been.  
They were mismatched creatures that made his skin  
crawl.  
  
He let out a cold shiver at the memory of the man  
or thing that was obviously leading those beasts.  
It was dressed all in black and its skin was pale  
that shone with a sickly gleam. When the man in  
black spotted Tenchi, the only thing that ran  
through Tenchi's mind was the man's lack of eyes.  
"He had no eyes," he muttered.  
  
A gust of wind swoop across his sweat slick back  
that left him feeling cold down to his toes.  
Gripping himself to keep warm, he muttered out a  
question.  
  
"What the hell am I going to do?" he asked out  
loud. He had no answer, knowing only that it was  
due to his lack of caution and equal amount of  
stupidity that resulted in this major mishap.  
  
'Why didn't I listen to mom?' he wondered. 'I  
should have stayed out of Washuu's lab like a  
good-little boy.' Tenchi closed his eyes as he  
remembered feeling extra adventurous that day-  
-feeling ever grateful that Washuu had decided to  
leave with his mother and father to go on some  
intergalactic convention. With those three gone  
and with most of the regular household gone to  
pursue things in Nerima, Tenchi found it easy to  
bypass Washuu's security and to take a peek at all  
her neat gadgets.  
  
"Neat my ass," he murmured. He got up and began  
to leap from tree to tree, the added exertion  
helped bring back some of the warmth he had lost  
while remaining idle in the treetops. But, it was  
only after a few minutes of tree hopping that a  
thin gleam of sweat returned to his brow while his  
body went into a mindless autopilot as he simply  
jumped from limb to limb--heading in the opposite  
direction that the goat-men had come from.  
  
Once he settled into a nice rhythm, he pondered  
back to Washuu's lab. 'Oh god, I hope Washuu  
installed some video cameras.' The thought  
occurred to him once he realized that no one would  
know where he had gone. 'They'd probably search  
the whole world or galaxy for me, but I just had  
to play with that stupid Stargate-thing of hers.'  
The image of a large circular contraption with  
hieroglyphics carved into its edifice came to  
mind.  
  
He had heard that it had belonged to his Grandpa  
Ranma and was originally used as a gateway between  
planets. It was a device left behind by aliens  
who came to enslave the human race over eight  
thousand years ago. However, once Washu had  
rediscovered the device amongst Grandpa Ranma's  
junk, she had then proliferated it and with some  
tinkering on her part, made it into some sort of  
dimensional gateway.  
  
The device still worked as it originally had-  
-linking itself to other stargates scattered  
across the galaxy--however, with some  
modifications the device would scan the various  
dimensions and anchor itself to another temporal  
or dimensional gateway. At that moment, the image  
of large-monolithic columns of smoothly carved  
stone came to mind as Tenchi remembered himself  
being surrounded by these stones when he first  
came to this world.  
  
He thought nothing much of it at the time--he was  
too busy dealing with the horde of goat-men who  
were pouring out of a silvery-mirror like gateway  
some distance away. But now in hindsight, he  
realized that those stones that were scattered  
around him must have been the anchor point for  
Washuu's stargate.  
  
"Well shit," he voiced. "I can't go back there.  
Not with those fucking goat-men blocking my  
access. What I need to find is some food and  
shelter. Hopefully, I can just wait those guys  
out and I can go back and maybe figure out how to  
return back home."  
  
As Tenchi continued to jump through the trees, he  
came across a dirt-paved road. A thought suddenly  
came to mind. 'Roads usually lead to  
civilization.' A sense of hope returned to him as  
he descended from the trees and began his trek.  
As he looked from left to right, he realized he  
had no clue in which direction to go.  
  
But only after a brief moment, he headed left-  
-heading that simply because he was left-handed.  
In his mind he hoped to god that he had made the  
right decision because although he might have had  
great skill in the art, the thought of fighting  
goat-men barehanded made his skin crawl. With the  
wind behind his back, Tenchi clutched himself  
tightly as he walked east; a dull throbbing pain  
now surfaced in the afterglow rush of his exertion  
and fear-induced adrenaline high.  
  
+++++  
  
The wooden wheels creaked in rhythm as two men  
walked alongside a cart being pulled by an old-  
shaggy mare. One of the men was obviously older;  
he had a small amount of girth and carried with  
him a wooden quarterstaff. On the other side of  
the cart, walked a younger man--still more a boy  
than a man yet.  
  
In his hand was clutched a bow, with an arrow  
already at the string. The young man had a dark  
reddish head of hair, and he stood a good six  
inches taller than the older man. As the two men  
walked along the road in silence, with only the  
whistling of the wind to keep them company, the  
older man, named Tam Al'Thor brought a hand up to  
signal for his son, Rand to stop.  
  
Seeing that his father made him stop, he puzzled  
at what it could be. He took a look back and saw a  
dark rider on horseback. Rand immediately tensed  
at the sight and briefly blinked his eyes to make  
sure that the morning dawn wasn't playing tricks  
on him. When he opened them, the rider was gone;  
there was no sign that he was even there.  
  
Turning back around to the sound of his father's  
voice, Rand caught sight of a lone figure walking  
up the road. From the distance, Rand could barely  
make out that the stranger heading towards them  
was a young man, who like himself, was more boy  
than man. As the stranger closed the distance,  
Rand and Thom let out a simultaneous gasp as they  
caught sight of the strangers appearance.  
  
There was blood everywhere. The boy's face was  
covered in red, a wound from his temple showed  
where the source had come from and from the  
darkness of the wound it was quite obvious that it  
was only at most a few hours old. Immediately,  
Tam ordered Rand to head up towards the stranger  
to see if he needed help.  
  
Rand lost no time in doing so as the two men  
bridged the gap. As they got closer, they made  
out more details about the stranger. For  
starters, they noticed the man had facial features  
not native to people of the Two Rivers; there was  
also the fact that the man's hair was dark blue  
and was tied long in the back that further  
supported the opinion that this man was an obvious  
outsider.  
  
As Rand's eyes roamed across the stranger, he  
noticed his odd sense of dress. He noted that the  
clothes were finely stitched and were obviously  
made by a fine tailor, however he failed to  
recognize any familiarity in the man's fashion.  
The shoes looked sturdy but were obviously not  
made of leather. The pants looked sturdy as well,  
though the multitude of pockets along the pant leg  
made both Rand and Tam puzzle over why someone  
would need so many. Finally, they noticed the dark  
blue vest that lay over a black undershirt; he  
could easily see the vest keeping the man warm,  
though without any sleeves he could imagine that  
the man must have been freezing.  
  
Rushing up to the stranger they began to question  
him, however they only received gibberish in  
response.  
  
"Rand," called out his father. "I think the boy  
has lost too much blood and has gone delusional.  
I think we should place him on the back of the  
cart and take him to the Wisdom immediately."  
  
Rand nodded and the two men approached the  
stranger. After a little struggle and some brief  
coaxing, they got the boy to agree. Though the  
boy's words were alien to their ears, the look of  
comprehension on his face made it seem that  
perhaps he wasn't as delusional from lack of blood  
as they had previously thought.  
  
With the stranger resting under a spare blanket in  
the back of their wagon, the three of them made  
there way towards Emond's Fields with haste in  
their step.  
  
To be continued...  
  
--- End of Prologue ---  
  
Q&A 


End file.
